Are you wanting to help improve your child’s handwriting?

Do you feel that your child’s handwriting should be better than it is?

Do you fear that your child is getting behind with their school work?

Warning: These 3 mistakes will destroy handwriting practice

Why should this be a concern?

Then read these tips on the do’s and don’ts for helping children aged 8 to 11 years become successful writers.

And not become avoiders of writing.

High expectations are placed upon children. By this age handwriting is expected to be automatic. Hence within the school day, there is no more time given to learning how to write. That’s it. No more help. Handwriting should be learnt by now.

Often most schools give no time to practice. If you’re lucky, your child may get 30 minutes a week of instruction. To be honest, that is not going to fix it if your child is finding handwriting difficult.

Why should this be a concern?

To write automatically you need to be able to write without looking at every letter. It is a skill in itself. This is how as an adult you can sign your name without looking. Once mastered, children develop the handwriting skill to write fast.

Without handwriting speed, children can get left behind. The pace of the academic work in schools escalates. The only way to catch up is by missing break time or by doing the work at home. This may sound old fashioned. Yet kids across the country have missed their break times. They were too slow to finish their work in class.

How handwriting practice at home, can you improve your kids handwriting?

Improve letter size

Usually at this age kids know the mechanics of how to write. But their writing can appear messy. By concentrating on the letter size it can improve the legibility. This in turn will improve handwriting speed.

Play a spy game (with a difference)

Ask your child to imagine they are writing a secret message to a friend. A safe message is only delivered when they do not look at what they are writing. If they look then the secret is revealed. They must also be able to read what they have written afterwards.

Use handwriting practice worksheets

Worksheets come in all different shapes and sizes. The key is to give your child worksheets that are different from what they are practising at school. This will capture their imagination. It will motivate them to write. Some of mine combine handwriting with internet searches. This helps keep it fun and of interest.

Buy them a special pen or pencil

Sometimes the willingness to write is magically improved with a trip to the stationery shop. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Nowadays many pens and pencils are ergonomically designed. Meaning that they are more comfortable to write with. This could be the difference that your child is needing.

Dot to dot puzzles

Often it can appear a child has good handwriting. Then overnight their writing becomes messy and unreadable. This is not due to them regressing but because they’re trying to write faster. Research has shown that by doing dot to dot puzzles it will improve handwriting speed.

Mistakes (what NOT to do when doing handwriting practice with your child)

Putting pressure on them

By this age many kids will have already adopted avoidance strategies. Writing has to have meaning. Ask them to help you write a weekly shopping list. The more practice they get, the quicker they can develop muscle memory. This is where the brain can instruct the hand to move the pen without looking. Muscle memory gives us handwriting speed.

Using plain paper

Regardless of our age we all need lines to write on. Lined paper helps keep writing clear and easy to read. Without it, letters can change in size and appearance.

Rushing

Finally we all learn differently. Some kids need more time than others. If you think your child needs extra help with forming letters then it’s not a sign of failure. Go back a step. Give them this help. Writing smaller and faster can only happen after this stage is mastered.

Let me tell you about Mia

She found handwriting tricky. She was being kept in at break time because her writing was messy and slow. Her Mum did not know how she could help her. She could see her daughter's confidence fading. Her Mum approached me, and I showed them together what they could do at home.

Using a combination of my handwriting worksheets and advice Mia improved her handwriting legibility and speed. She did this by working on handwriting letter size. It wasn’t easy. It took hard work from both Mia and her Mum.

The difference now is fantastic. In 6 weeks, Mia went from being a reluctant writer to one who has confidence. She now has her pen licence. This aspiring actress is writing wonderful stories that are entertaining to read.

To summarise kids handwriting practice 8 to 11 years is all about:

Recognising that at this age we expect a lot from our children.

Creating time for handwriting practice is needed, as it is rarely given.

Handwriting speed and muscle memory needs to be developed.

All of the above can happen in a number of ways. It does not have to involve writing the same words over and over again.

Get Set Write Club – Monthly Handwriting Club

Mums, Dads, Guardians – let me make an educated guess, you’re wondering how to help your child in overcoming one or more of the most common writing problems.

Whatever your child’s writing problem, this club is the answer.

Print & go resources!

Welcome to a world of resources for working alongside your child. You’ll start by identifying and understanding what your child really needs to focus on, and be signposted to the right videos, worksheets and workbooks, to take on those stubborn road blocks that previously stood in the way of progress.

New resources are added every month to keep your child engaged with fresh, exciting challenges. As a parent, you also have a monthly Q&A session to look forward to for your most pressing questions.

Like hundreds of other kids, your child will come on in leaps and bounds (the effectiveness of my unique handwriting font is the reason why I’ve been nominated for awards).